If you’re having trouble choosing between shared hosting and dedicated hosting, there’s nothing wrong with you. You’re not indecisive, you’re not bad at technology, and you’re not nitpicking. You just haven’t realised that your perfect web hosting option might actually be VPS hosting. VPS hosting gives you everything you love about shared hosting and dedicated hosting, because instead of using either shared servers or dedicated servers, VPS hosting uses Virtual Private Servers.
This article reveals everything you’ll ever need to know about VPS hosting:
- What is a Virtual Private Server?
- How does VPS hosting work?
- Is VPS hosting better than shared hosting and dedicated hosting?
- How do you know if VPS hosting is best for your website?
- How do you choose the best VPS hosting company for your website?
- What is managed VPS hosting?
Table of Contents
What is a Virtual Private Server?
A server is a special computer that stores your website so it can be visited on the internet. The “Virtual” in “Virtual Private Server” means this server uses virtualisation technology. (If that sounds complicated, it isn’t.)
Virtualisation technology is used to convert the server into a virtual representation of itself. From there, web hosting companies manipulate the server so that instead of being able to run only one operating system, the same server can now run multiple operating systems.
These operating systems all run independently of each other, which is where the “Private” in “Virtual Private Server” comes in.
So, to put it simply, what is a Virtual Private Server?
“A Virtual Private Server is a server within a bigger server, that has its own separate operating system.”
How does VPS hosting work?
When you get VPS hosting, you’re the only one who can use your VPS. You have your own CPU, bandwidth, RAM, and all the other resources you need to make your website run quickly and smoothly. You don’t have to worry that your website might crash because your neighbour’s website had a traffic spike. In this way, it’s just like dedicated hosting, but with the cost-sharing benefits of shared hosting.
Just to be fair, though, let’s compare VPS hosting to shared hosting and dedicated hosting.
VPS Hosting vs. Shared Hosting
Shared hosting is great for websites that are just starting out, because with shared hosting, one server is shared between different users. The servers aren’t split up the way they are with VPS hosting. Everything is shared, including the CPU, the RAM, the bandwidth, and the cost.
It’s the cost sharing that makes shared hosting so attractive to people who are new to web hosting. But sharing can have unpredictable ill effects, too. E.g., If one user is a terrible neighbour and soaks up all the bandwidth or has an unexpected spike in traffic, guess who else suffers?
All the other websites using that server. With VPS hosting, you get the benefits of cost sharing without the drawbacks of being affected by any websites other than your own. Want to learn more about VPS versus shared? Go here.
VPS Hosting vs. Dedicated Hosting
Dedicated hosting is great for bigger websites with more traffic, because with dedicated hosting, you get a server that’s dedicated to just your website. This is great, in theory. But it isn’t necessarily the best choice for all websites. If your website doesn’t get that much traffic, then paying for a dedicated server means spending money on a lot of extra space that you never end up using. That’s a waste of money that could be spent investing in other things.
With VPS hosting, you get the benefits of a (virtual) dedicated server – without the bigger price tag.
Is VPS hosting right for your website?
Do you want to start expanding your website? If you want to elevate your website but don’t quite have the budget for dedicated hosting, VPS hosting is the best choice for your website. Has your website been getting attacked by another website on your shared server? Thankfully, this is pretty rare, but it still happens. If it’s happened to you, and you can’t wait for your web hosting provider to sort things out, you might want to try VPS hosting, so you can get the security of having your own private server without paying for dedicated hosting.
If security is generally an issue for you, though, check out this guide to finding the best internet security software packages. Has your website been getting more traffic than usual? If so, congrats! Your hard work is paying off. But if you want to make sure your site doesn’t slow down, or, worse, crash, it’s time to look into VPS hosting.
How do you choose the best VPS hosting company?
- It’s affordable, so you don’t have to break the bank to get great web hosting.
- The best VPS hosting company will offer a range of VPS hosting packages, so you can upgrade and downgrade whenever you want.
- They offer 24/7 customer support, so you’ll have help if something goes wrong.
- They keep your servers secure. Do not choose a company that does not have 24/7 on-site surveillance and daily backup.
- Managed VPS hosting is available.
What is managed VPS hosting?
Managed VPS hosting means your hosting provider takes care of the technical side of operating your VPS, so you don’t have to.
Managed VPS hosting will usually cover:
- VPS installation and setup
- A certain percentage of guaranteed uptime
- Troubleshooting
- Basic task automation
Web hosting companies offer different services for managed VPS hosting, so always contact customer support to make sure you’re getting exactly what you want.
Wrap-up
If you need the cost-effectiveness of shared hosting and the control of dedicated hosting, VPS hosting might be perfect for your website.
Be sure to get great customer support for VPS hosting packages and managed VPS hosting. Choose the best VPS hosting on Hosting.uk now.
